


Love is a Many Splendored Thing

by SelenaTerna



Series: Random Doctor Who Ficlets [4]
Category: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: AU, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon verse, F/M, Jackie pov, Motherhood, Nine doesn't regenerate, Post-Episode AU: s01e13 The Parting of the Ways, Romance, love in various forms
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-26
Updated: 2017-03-26
Packaged: 2018-10-11 00:33:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,464
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10451034
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SelenaTerna/pseuds/SelenaTerna
Summary: AU, set post-POTW. Jackie reflects on the events of Bad Wolf and POTW as she waits and worries, wondering if she's done the right thing in helping Rose get back to the Doctor. Later, she ponders her and Rose's lives after Rose returns with the Doctor and Jack (Nine doesn't regenerate). A reflection on love in a few of its many forms.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Caedmon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Caedmon/gifts).



> This fic is a VERY belated birthday gift for the fabulous Caedmon- happy belated birthday, lovely lady! Sorry this is so late, but my muse took a bit of time to get going on this. I know you like Jackie and that Nine is your favourite Doctor (yay!), so I offer this humble little fic both as a birthday gift and as a thank you for the enjoyment I've gotten from reading all of your wonderful works. I've never written Jackie's POV before (fair warning) so hopefully it isn't too terrible. Thank you for your amazing fics and happy birthday again!

Jackie stared intently at the courtyard below.

For what seemed to be the thousandth time, her heart twisted in her chest as her mind screamed that she’d sent her daughter off to her death. Tears filled her eyes and she blinked them away, refusing to look away from the courtyard for a single minute.

Just in case.

It had been an hour and twelve minutes since she’d sent Rose off in that blasted box. An hour and twelve minutes since she’d sent her daughter right back into the future, to face the alien monsters that had destroyed the Doctor’s planet, to a war she never should have been in to begin with.

An hour and twelve minutes since she’d sent her daughter back to the man she loved and the life she belonged in.

Jackie took a deep breath and swiped at her tears again. And that was the clincher, wasn’t it? Rose loved the Doctor. Jackie had been so desperate to dismiss it as a mere infatuation, a natural crush on a fit (she grudgingly admitted) older bloke who’d literally given her the world. But it wasn’t. Much as she hated it, it was so much more than that.

She blinked furiously, remembering Rose’s face when the Doctor had sent her back. She’d been beside herself, hadn’t been able to sit still, hadn’t been able to just accept doing nothing and go about a normal life. No, she’d talked about a better way of living, about the Doctor himself, out there dying alone while she was stuck here, unable to get to him because he’d wanted to keep her safe. And the Doctor hadn't taught her to live like that, to hide from the hard things. "You don't just give up,” she’d said, her gaze intent. “You don't just let things happen. You make a stand. You say no. You have the guts to do what's right when everyone else just runs away, and I just can't...”

She’d trailed off, but Jackie had heard the words she didn’t say: _I can’t leave him to die out there alone_.

Even in tears, Rose been furious, strong- a warrior.

All grown up.

"Two hundred thousand years in the future, he's dying and there’s nothing I can do,” Rose had sobbed in bitter grief. She’d fought with her bare hands to open that box, had tried anything and everything to make it work but the console wouldn’t open. Jackie had tried to talk her out of it but Rose had fired back that her dad wouldn’t have given up, that he’d have done whatever it took to make it work. She’d spun a fantastical tale about the Doctor taking her back to meet Pete, of Rose sitting with her dad as he died and Jackie had fled, unable to listen.

She couldn’t bear the memories of the man she’d loved and lost, couldn’t bear to remember the day he’d been taken from her. She’d have done anything to have him back, to save him. And now she learned that Rose had been there and she was glad, so glad, because she couldn’t bear the thought of Pete dying alone, lying there in the street.

And that was when she knew she had to face the truth, to face facts.

Rose loved the Doctor, truly loved him. She was willing to die with him, to stand by his side until the end and face it with him. She was willing to risk her own life opening up the console of that box and take whatever it was into herself to save the Doctor, even if it killed her, and God help her but Jackie understood. She knew that given a chance she’d have done exactly the same thing for Pete. If there’d been even a small chance to save him, to stop that car, she’d have taken it no matter the risk to herself.

It was love. Unselfish, self-sacrificing love. The same love that would have seen Jackie take her daughter's place in a moment, if she could.

The same love that had made the Doctor send Rose back to Jackie in that box of his in the first place- _his only bit of home_ , Rose had said. He'd taken the only thing he had left in the world and given it up to keep Rose safe, even if it meant that he'd die alone at the hands of the monsters that had killed his own people.

Jackie had known since Downing Street that the blasted alien was in love with her daughter. But now... now she knew just how _much_ he loved her. Knew he was willing to give up his own life to keep her safe. Knew that he loved Rose the way she _deserved_ to be loved.

She'd known then, looking at the fearless woman her daughter had become, that she couldn't keep her anymore, that Rose didn't belong here anymore.

She belonged in the stars, with the Doctor.

With _her_ Doctor.

Jackie had sobbed in grief then, her heart tearing in her chest at what she knew she had to do. And then she'd gone and borrowed the truck and helped Rose pry open the console of the TARDIS. The last she'd seen of her daughter was a triumphant smile before everything was covered in a golden glow so bright she'd had to close her eyes.

Then Rose was gone. That awful grinding had started and suddenly Jackie and Mickey were alone in the courtyard, the truck still running.

Dread had seeped through her and she'd felt as though someone had punched her in the gut.

What had she done? Dear God, what had she _done_?

She'd wanted to wait right there in the courtyard for Rose to come back, but Mickey had insisted that she couldn't stay there, that it might be hours. "You know what 'is drivin’ is like," he'd joked, trying to smile for her sake. She’d refused but he’d fought off her protests and helped her upstairs.

She'd been waiting at the window ever since, watching and waiting and praying for that bloody box to come back. She knew it might be hours or days or weeks, or God help her, never again.

Rose might never come back.

That horrific thought chilled her to the bone.

So when she heard the familiar grinding noise of the TARDIS behind her minutes later, right here in the flat, she froze.

It _couldn't_ be.

It couldn't. She was imagining things.

But then she heard the doors creak open and she had to _look_ , had to know. She turned slowly and almost fainted in relief as she saw the blue police box, right there and so very _real._

The door opened and Rose and the Doctor stepped out hand in hand, a _very_  fit bloke just behind them.

It was all a blur after that. There were tears and hugs and explanations sobs of relief. There was the bittersweet realisation, as she watched the normally gruff Doctor reverently stroke Rose’s face, that it was _done_ , that their almost-deaths had destroyed any pretence about what they were to one another. There was a silent nod to the Doctor, showing her pained acceptance. There was a smile to Rose, and joy at seeing her daughter happy. There was a moment of silent understanding and amusement with the fit bloke (Captain Jack, apparently) that Rose and the Doctor hardly seemed to see anyone outside of each other. There was a poignant, resigned look to Rose from Mickey, who’d come running as soon as she’d called, and a stern, warning glance at the Doctor. There were words of acceptance and promises made as Rose slept between them on the couch and the Doctor and Jackie talked. He hadn’t let go of Rose’s hand even in sleep. There was a moment of fear as Jackie learned that her daughter’s body, her _lifespan_ had changed, and comfort in the knowledge that however long she lived, Rose would be loved and cherished always, even long after Jackie was gone.

Later, much later, after they had all gone to bed, there was quiet and the cold night air as Jackie stood on the balcony, thinking.

This wasn’t the life she’d planned for Rose-or for herself, for that matter. The Doctor wasn’t the man she’d have chosen and it was all _different_ from what she'd imagined.

But it was still _good_. Rose was here, safe and sound, and she was tied to a man who loved her, who _cherished_ her, as Jackie had always wanted for her daughter. And for now, Rose was home.

And that Captain Jack was a right dish.

So, in spite of her worries, life was still very good.

It was, as the Doctor liked to say, _fantastic_.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! If you have any questions or comments, feel free to contact me on Tumblr at https://countessselena.tumblr.com/.


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